Quantum Christianity: "In the Beginning Was the Relationship"
John 1:1-5
Sermon preached Sunday, April 10, 2005
By Rev. Patricia Pearce
I have an interest in quantum physics. I enjoy reading the stuff written for lay people. I am not a scientist, but fortunately there are scientists who know how to speak English and they can translate what they have come to know through their experiments. They can translate the implications of that into terms that people who have degrees in education or German or music or theology -- those other realms -- can kind of get it. So I have been reading quantum physics for awhile and it fascinates me. It fascinates the scientists too because there is something they call "quantum weirdness". And what they mean by that is that when they get to the quantum realm, which is the atomic/subatomic realm, reality is really different from what it seems to be in our daily interactions. And it's sort of troublesome to them and to all of us that things at some deeper level don't seem to follow the rules.
I think this interests me from a theological and spiritual perspective because when I am sort of in a 'prayer zone' I feel like I am actually inhabiting a reality that seems different from the way things appear on the surface. This disconnect between what we observe at the macro-level from what exits at the micro-level I think is a really intriguing notion for us as people of faith. You know there is all sorts of talk these days about what is the appropriate relationship between science and religion. My interest in quantum physics and what it calls forth in terms of my theology has less to do really with me feeling the need for my theology to catch up with science and it is more about my theology needing to catch up with Yeshua. Because in my reading of quantum physics, it in fact helps me have at least some notion of what he was about and the realm he was accessing in his prayers and in his healings. That he managed to bring forth this other reality into the macro-world where people could actually see it at work.
So one of the weird things about quantum physics (and feel free to chime in here! This is an exploration for me. I am playing with these ideas and I thought I would invite you all into the sandbox, if you will, because I really think that our theology needs to be revised. I think that our Christian theology is stuck in a paradigm that was appropriate at one point in history and it is no longer appropriate. And unless we can find ways to reframe it within our current context, it will become anachronistic and irrelevant.) So here's one of the weird things about quantum physics that they have discovered: If two particles which were once united are then separated and set off in different directions while spinning, if in the experiment they change the spin of one of the particles, the other particle simultaneously changes its spin as well. It simultaneously changes. In other words, it doesn't even allow enough reaction time for a message to get from point A to point B. It's simultaneous. Now this drove Einstein crazy because it seemed to imply that something was happening at a speed faster than light, and in his physics nothing could travel faster than light. This reaction is completely simultaneous so that not even light has a chance to say, "Hey, change your spin". So there is a sense in which, when this one particle changes or is effected, that effect is felt with the other particle as well. So there is a sense in which they appear to be separated but in fact there is some way in which they continue to be the same, they continue to be united.
So that is the first element of quantum weirdness that I would like us to think about. (We will be playing in the sandbox for quite a few weeks right up until right up until Pentecost.) What is interesting to me is that I think if we get to the core of the Christian message and if we are bold enough to explore the 'Christ weirdness', we will find that what Christianity is really pointing to is in fact some of the same stuff science is telling us.
So, two particles seem to be two, they seem to be separate but in fact they are one, or they behave as one. So the scientists have been trying to work this out. Okay, wait, wait! What is going on here? There is a way in which distance at the quantum level is irrelevant. At the quantum level both distance and time become non-operative. Let me let that sink in for a moment… Both distance and time become non-operative.
I am so glad that you have that look on your face Susan! That is the appropriate look. What do you mean??? And yet, when we find ourselves in a mystical state we know that that is true. When in our prayer life and when in those moments of profound vision when we find ourselves in that state we understand in fact that time and distance are inoperative. That everything that ever has occurred and will occur is in some way simultaneous in that state. I believe that this state is what Yeshua was speaking of when he was talking about the realm of God - the realm of God where time and distance are inconsequential. I believe that he was so connected with that realm that he was able to enact it so that people could actually see it. So to understand that we live in a universe that is one thing. It is not a universe that consists of separate billiard balls, which is the image that is often used for Newton's concept of physics. One object, like a billiard ball, runs into another object and effects the other object so that each one exists as a separate entity but they can interact. In the quantum understanding in fact these are not separate entities. They are all one thing. So to understand and really get our minds around it, that in fact Martha looks like she is a separate person from me. We have this perception in our daily lives of separateness but in fact we are both expressions of this oneness, this totality in which we exist.
Now I chose John's gospel, the opening, because I learned an interesting thing. We are used to hearing the word logos translated as "word", but there is a previous, an older meaning of the word logos which means "relationship". So the precursor in Greek to this understanding of logos as "word" is in fact relationship. So listen to that...
In the beginning was the relationship, and the relationship was with God and the relationship was God. The relationship was in the beginning with God and all things came into being through it, and without it not one thing came into being. What has coming to being in the relationship was life and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
This notion of relationship as primary is an essential one, and in fact I think it is an interesting thing that the historic doctrine of the Trinity touches on this. That there is an aspect in which the divine is relationship, that the Godhead is an entity of relationship between what we perceive of or talk about as three persons. So to think of relationship as the fundamental reality of what is, relationship as the fundamental reality of the universe, of God, of us, of all things. You know in our culture I think a lot of people struggle with feelings of aloneness, loneliness, of isolation, and that is really our illusion that we exist separately and that we are alone.
Now I am going to share something from my own personal journey. I think that part of my interest in all of this ...Let me just back up for one second. I think getting to the crux of this, that in fact all things are one thing, has profound implications for how we perceive prayer and how we go about prayer. It has profound implications for any notion that we are separate from God. In a universe in which separateness cannot exist, we cannot be separate from God. It's impossible.
So I had a dream about fourteen years ago while I was still in seminary and I feel that my life at least in the last couple or three years has been the unfolding of this dream. When I had it I knew that this was one of those big dreams that we have maybe once or twice in our lives, and I knew that this was a big dream. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the most important dream that I ever had and will ever have. So I won't tell you the whole dream. I will just get to the point. This dream ends with this confrontation that I have with this very powerful archetypal presence in the dream that I perceive in the dream as an evil entity that I must conquer. It is up to me to stop this evil entity. A person in the dream morphs into this very powerful female figure, and I know that I have to stop her. And so in the dream I am prepared to confront her at the primal energetic level, sort of sci-fi-ish. I am in front of her and I raise my arm up and my eyes roll back in my head and I come down and I'm kind of like "ZZZZZ." I am going to defeat this presence, but her power is so extreme that I become paralyzed and I realize now that I am not going to defeat her; my primary concern is surviving this encounter. And she is not coming back at me with anything. It is just the presence of her being that paralyzes me. So I say to her... Now listen, this is very revealing. You know, when you share a dream with people you are sharing the raw material of your unconscious! I hope you appreciate this. This is exposure! I say to her, "I do not need personal strength because God's spirit is in me". And she says, " Oh yeah? Soon you will know no one". And I wake up with my heart pounding because it feels like a curse. Soon you will know no one. Isn't that the primal Whoa! Its like when the bible talks about being cast out where there is weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. "Soon you will know no one." It was terrifying. But that dream has been revealing itself to me for over the past three years, and I have come to realize that I totally misread it. That in fact what she was saying was "Soon you will know... No one. There is no separateness, there is no isolated "one". Are you with me? There is a little play on words there. I hope you can get that. Soon you will know: no one... no one. It is the All. Soon you will know, It is the All. And you see, in the dream my dream persona thought that I was separate from God. I don't need personal strength because God's spirit -- and God is Other -- God, the Other's, spirit is in me. And she says, "NO!"... There is no separation.
This, my friends, has very significant implications for us as co-creators. We are going to talk more about that next week.
"In the beginning was the relationship." And for too long our theology and our policies have been rooted in the illusion of separateness. Christianity is separate from Buddhism (and better than!). The United States is separate from Afghanistan. Our health is separate from the health of the rivers. We are living in an illusion, and it is time our theology corrected this error.
Thanks be to the All!
© 2005 by Patricia Pearce. All rights reserved. Please consult the author at tabernacle@tabunited.org if you wish to use the text of this sermon, in whole or in part.
